Ichigo couldn't help the fact that she was fidgeting at this point. She had known from the beginning that something had been off about some of the 'aliens' that she had encountered. It wasn't just the fact that their energy had felt weirdly weak for living things. No, it was more like, the energy that she had felt was barely there at all.
Like an inaudible whisper brushing against her senses.
To her knowledge, no living thing felt like that regardless of what species it was.
Humans didn't. And Soul Reapers certainly didn't. So, she hadn't had any idea of what to make of it right then. All that she had been aware of was that it felt off.
She had developed a suspicion right after running into a few of them and fighting them. It was hard not too when some of them were simply faster to react and attack than others. While those that weren't seemed almost like marionettes being forced to move.
It had been eerie to her, but because of the situation, she had shoved her suspicion to the back of her mind in lieu of simply surviving and doing what she could to prevent more senseless deaths.
Which was why when Yoruichi had showed up and told her about the American Soul Reaper's being wiped out- her suspicion had returned tenfold, and she asked her friend to grab one since she had already had a theory firmly take root in her mind.
She had simply hoped that she was just being paranoid.
Now though...
Her anxiety was through the roof as she decided to do an impromptu autopsy while they waited for the rest of the League to arrive so that they could be briefed on the twisted situation that they all had found themselves in.
But more than that...she was just plain upset.
Upset that after so many years of trying to protect the human/Soul Society from attacks like the one that had destroyed the city that they were currently located- someone- some dickhead had finally gone off the deep end and done what they shouldn't have.
How many times had she found herself in a situation like this in Japan for crying out loud? Three? Four? More?
Of course, those attacks had usually somehow been linked to the Soul Reapers. Either because of mistakes made long, long ago. Or because someone went a little to experiment happy and tossed the survivors of the horrors away thinking them too weak and pitiful to ever come back to exact their vengeance.
She couldn't help but wonder if something like that had been the fuel used to ignite this mess? Or had the American Soul Reapers somehow actually been invaded by beings of unknown origin and been slaughtered so that said beings could amass a greater number of soldiers for their cause and destroy the humans?
Honestly at this point her guess was as good as anyone else's as she took the time to peel some of the armor off of the corpse with Yoruichi's help.
Either way, it didn't make the task ahead of them any easier to bear though.
The others had more or less vacated the immediate area to go and talk amongst themselves about them as she began the autopsy on their brethren.
The first thing that she noticed that was unusual was the fact that the corpse was a gigi. Or rather it had been one that was being used before death.
Which made sense considering the fact that the corpse was still visible and could be physically touched by them.
Next she was beginning to check the arms for defensive wounds that would indicate some sort of a struggle since the alternative was far scarier to her.
After all, if there were no traces to indicate a struggle- it meant that whoever had stuffed the unknown Reaper into the armor had been able to either take the guy completely unawares or was able to easily incapacitate him before he could so much as draw his zanpakutÅ.
One would mean that they had been betrayed by one of their own. The second would mean that someone of considerable stealth, speed, and skill had somehow managed to either infiltrate or get close enough to them without raising any red flags or alarms.
Upon finding no injuries consistent with self-defense on the arms, hands, or even the legs and feet- she then sat back on her heels with a muttered oath as she raked her fingers through her dark hair in frustration.
"Do you think it may be someone left over from one of Aizen's groups?" Yoruichi asked suddenly.
All she could do was cast a dark look the woman's direction before growling, "It better not be." If whoever had done this one of Aizen's former followers, she would kill them herself just to make absolutely certain that they were dead.
Bat's rules about killing be damned.
"What are they doing?" Hawkgirl asked in an utterly appalled tone as she stared at the two women. Batman cast a curious look over one of his shoulders to see what it was that was upsetting the woman now and raised a brow when he saw that the two women had peeled the armor off of the body and seemed to be examining it.
"An autopsy, I think." He said before turning back to his friends.
"Why?" Hawkgirl asked, trying to hide the fact that her voice came out strained.
"They're probably checking to see if their comrade in arms died well," Wonder Woman said as she glanced at the two. "It's something that warriors among the Soul Reapers usually do in the case of an unexplained death. They're probably searching for specific details to pass on to the dead's family."
"I've been meaning to ask this before," J'onn started. "But what is a Soul Reaper?"
"I haven't heard of them before." Hawkgirl said automatically.
Batman merely shrugged, "I've never heard of them before either."
"I have," Wonder Woman said. "Back home, we have ancient scrolls dedicated to some of the most ancient beings to ever walk the world of man. Soul Reapers, are among some of the oldest ones in all of creation." She paused for a moment to see if the others were paying close attention and upon seeing that they were, she went on to explain. "They are supernatural beings- the closest that I can liken them to is what you normally refer to as grim reapers. They are also a warrior race with incredible powers and abilities..."
She paused again to let the others absorb the information that she'd just given them and then said. "This is the second time that I've ever seen any up close like this. I was very surprised by the one called, Ichigo and the fact that she didn't attack Hawkgirl and I when we came upon her. They're very secretive about the existence of their race. And allowing humans to learn of them is forbidden."
Batman's mind was abuzz from the information that they had just been given as he cast another glance in Ichigo's direction as he asked, "Wonder Woman, are any of a Soul Reaper's abilities akin to that of an exorcist?"
Wonder Woman was quiet for several moments before finally saying, "Yes, I believe some of them are. Why do you ask?"
"No reason." He said curtly as he turned on his heel and walked away from them to rejoin Ichigo and her friend.
Don't get him wrong, he had already known that Ichigo wasn't telling him the whole truth about who she was or her abilities. He wasn't upset about that any. Nor was he all that bothered by the fact that he'd fallen in love with a woman that wasn't human either.
He wasn't a shallow man.
After all, he had non-human friends and colleagues in the League. And many of the non-human women were very nice people.
So, contrary to what the others were probably thinking right that moment about his relationship with Ichigo- they would be wrong about him deciding to cast her aside for another, more suitable woman. One that wasn't an adorable personification of death itself.
He was however very curious though about how a 'grim reaper' and being as ancient as creation itself had managed to integrate itself with humans.
He was certain that doing so would have been an insurmountable task to Ichigo given how young she appeared to be when compared to her friend. And certainly, an unwelcome one too especially if there wasn't much about human's that was really known to Soul Reapers since he very much doubted that they spent years walking among humans just to educate themselves about them.
The fact that they were also a warrior race, according to Wonder Woman, would also explain why Ichigo had claimed that she was former military as well. He wasn't absolutely sure if her kind even had a military. Much less needed one. But if they did, then it would make sense to him that she had likely joined them at some point in her youth.
Once he finally reached the two, he noticed that they were both unusually pale. Ichigo looked more than a little bit upset about something and her friend, Yoruichi looked...as if she wanted to throw up?
"Do you need any help?" He asked.
"No...but I think we might really in trouble here." Ichigo said darkly. He raised a brow at her as he kept a close eye on her face. Trying to gauge what it was that she may be thinking.
Whatever was going on in her head was unpleasant to her. Possibly even terrifying given how carefully she was trying to hide her fear to keep it from being noticed.
He couldn't fathom what people who personified death had to fear. But the fact that they feared anything at all was more than a bit alarming to him.
Dropping down to the ground next to her, he seated himself on his heels and demanded, "Tell me what you're thinking."
"I think we may be fucked." She said bluntly without looking at him. Next to her, the other woman, Yoruichi looked him in the eye and nodded her head sagely in agreement as Ichigo then started to ramble.
"Whoever did this was smart enough to know that gigai's limit our power a bit because we need them to interact with the human world and coming here at full strength- without the limitations is not only a bad idea for the Soul Reaper but could be catastrophic for humans as well."
"They were also clever enough to be able to get the drop on and incapacitate this guy without him even being able to get a single strike in to defend himself. If this happened to the others...then there's no telling how many of them have actually been killed so far. Or if any of the others are still alive and being held prisoner somewhere-"
"Or being experimented on." Yoruichi supplied absently.
Ichigo pointed to her and quickly turned her head to lock eyes with him, her expression and manner both all but screaming to him; that too!
He wasn't sure how to react to everything that she'd just rambled at him, much less her friend's input on things. But he did know that Ichigo was right. They may be fucked.
Reaching out, he tucked a stray strand of her hair behind her ear and then brushed the knuckles of one gloved hand along the curve of her cheek and caught Yoruichi staring at him in open mouthed shock, and quickly dropped his hand as he said, "We'll figure everything out. So, try not to worry too much." Before he then stood up and walking away from her.
